Rms News

Singapore Alliance Building Electric Tug and Supply Boat

The Coastal Sustainability Alliance (CSA), an industry collaborative effort led by Kuok Maritime Group (KMG), has announced the start of construction of its first fully electric PXO-series tug (e-tug) and supply boat (e-supply boat) by PaxOcean Group.The zero-emissions vessels are among the first and largest local electric harbour craft designed for operation in Singapore’s coastal waters. They are targeted for deployment in 2025, ahead of the nation’s goal for all new coastal…

Shipwrecks Teem with Underwater Life, from Microbes to Sharks

Humans have sailed the world’s oceans for thousands of years, but they haven’t all reached port. Researchers estimate that there are some three million shipwrecks worldwide, resting in shallow rivers and bays, coastal waters and the deep ocean. Many sank during catastrophes – some during storms or after running aground, others in battle or collisions with other vessels.Shipwrecks like the RMS Titanic, RMS Lusitania and USS Monitor conjure tales of human courage and sacrifice, sunken treasure and unsolved mysteries.

Marine News' Top Vessels of 2023

The November edition of Marine News magazine highlighted a selection of the most notable American newbuilds delivered of 2023—from a first-of-its-kind green towboat, to the lead vessel in a series of game-changing ships to train U.S. mariners.Empire StateAs the lead vessel in a series of five new training ships being constructed to serve America's state maritime academies, Empire State is easily one of the most important U.S.-built vessels delivered in recent memory.Built by Philly Shipyard for the U.S.

Remaining Titan Submersible Debris Salvaged

Phoenix International Holdings, under the direction of the U.S. Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV), have recovered the remaining debris of the Titan submersible from the North Atlantic seafloor near the RMS Titanic shipwreck.Work was performed using Phoenix’s Remora remotely operated vehicle (ROV). This 20,000 ft rated vehicle, designed and built by Phoenix, was used to map, locate, and recover Titan submersible debris at a depth of 12,500 feet. This was a follow…

Perdana Nautika Wins AHTS Vessel Contract

Malaysia's Perdana Petroleum's subsidiary, Perdana Nautika, has secured a contract for the provision of an anchor handling, Tug, and Supply (“AHTS”) vessel to RMS Synergy.The contract started on June 13, 2023, and has a 60-day duration. The contract is valued at around RM4.3 million (currently around $944,328).Perdana Nautica said it would provide an AHTS vessel with crews and equipment to perform a continuous service "for the purpose of assisting on the project activities."Perdana did not say what kind of project activities exactly the vessel would be supporting, nor which vessel exactly was deployed for the contract with the offshore support service provider RMS Synergy.

Ocean Explorer Offers Help to Gulf Livestock 1 Families

Ocean explorer Rob McCallum has offered to join a mission to find and retrieve the data recorder of the livestock carrier that capsized in the East China Sea in 2020.Reporting by 7News.com.au indicates that McCallum is confident that his team could find the Gulf Livestock 1, offering fresh hope to the families of the missing crew after some recently voiced disappointment with the investigation report into the catastrophe published by flag state Panama.The livestock carrier was sailing from New Zealand to China with 43 crew and approximately 6,000 dairy cattle onboard when it capsized in the East China Sea during Typhoon Maysak. 40 crew members remain missing after the capsize.As vessel flag state…

Why the Titanic Disaster Continues to Enthrall

The question on many minds this week is why did some of the world’s richest men risk death to venture to the bottom of the sea in a cold and cramped “experimental” submersible for a chance to glimpse the wreck of the Titanic?The “unsinkable” ship that sunk on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic in 1912 after colliding with an iceberg is arguably the world’s most well-known boat. The Titanic is recognisable to more of the world’s population than, say, the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria (Christopher Colombus’s fleet that launched the Spanish conquest of the Americas)…

MSC 107: SOLAS Amendments Adopted and Titanic Remembered

The IMO Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) held its 107th session from May 31 to June 9, 2023.Highlights of the meeting included the adoption of amendments to the LSA Code and MSC.81(70) Revised recommendation on the testing of life-saving appliances for the ventilation of totally enclosed lifeboats. ABS reports that the Committee adopted Resolution MSC.533(107) introducing amendments to the LSA Code to provide performance requirements that will require totally enclosed lifeboats to provide a means of ventilation operable from inside the lifeboat at a rate of not less than 5 m3/hour per person…

AAM Delivers Survey Vessel for NV5-Geodynamics

Bellingham, Wash. shipbuilder All American Marine (AAM) announced it has delivered a new research and hydrographic survey vessel for NV5-Geodynamics. The vessel was sea-trialed on Bellingham Bay, prior to shipping via cargo ship to its homeport of Beaufort, N.C.Built to service the growing offshore wind market as well as accomplish many other scientific survey missions, Shackleford is a 73- by 26.7-foot semi-displacement aluminum catamaran developed by Nic de Waal of Teknicraft Design in Auckland, New Zealand.

US Navy to Name Oceanographic Survey Ship USNS Robert Ballard

The U.S. Navy's next Pathfinder-class oceanographic survey ship will be named USNS Robert Ballard (T-AGS 67), Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Carlos Del Toro announced on Wednesday.The name selection follows the tradition of naming survey ships after explorers, oceanographers and distinguished marine surveyors. Widely known as a discoverer of the final resting place of the R.M.S. Titanic, Dr. Robert Ballard is a retired U.S. Navy Commander, former director of the Center for Ocean Exploration…

Discovering the Largest Shipwrecks in the St. Lawrence River

Of all the rivers in the world, the St. Lawrence River is undeniably one of the most challenging for mariners.This water highway is at some spots as narrow as a large river and, at others, as wide as a small sea. It has played a vital role over the last three centuries as an important artery for trade, communication, transportation and settlement. And since 1959, the year the St. Lawrence Seaway was inaugurated, it has been a gateway to the heart of the continent.The first European explorers who sailed the St. Lawrence discovered it was not easy to master: it was long, but never calm.

Horizon Maritime Signs On to Support Titanic Dive

Canadian offshore services company Horizon Maritime has signed on to support a dive mission to explore the wreck of the Titanic.OceanGate Expeditions, the crewed submersible exploration company leading the mission, selected the multipurpose offshore support vessel (OSV) Horizon Arctic to serve as the surface support vessel for the expedition scheduled to take place later this year.The RMS Titanic shipwreck lies approximately 2,500 feet below the ocean's surface, about 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Rauma Shipyard Resumes Operations After Coronavirus Outbreak

Finnish shipbuilder Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) said it resumed production on Thursday after it paused operations last week following a COVID-19 outbreak among its workforce.The company halted production last Friday after a cluster of coronavirus infections was discovered at the Rauma shipyard. Authorities tested all shipyard employees and quarantined those who had been exposed to the virus.RMC said the yard was thoroughly cleaned and sanitized during the weeklong shutdown, and that production will recommence in phases, in a controlled manner.

Op/Ed: SS United States, the Maritime Thoroughbred

There are many hallmarks of great civilizations, but perhaps none so universal as their desire to push the boundaries of human achievement through innovation. A key source of American pride has always been our ability to dream big. When it comes to ships, there is no more powerful example of this than the SS United States.“America’s Flagship” was more than a symbol of our nation’s post-war strength and global reach. She remains a singular and unrivaled marine engineering and design achievement.Curiously…

Salvors Outline Plan to Recover Titanic's Telegraph System

Marine salvors on Wednesday outlined plans to recover the Marconi wireless telegraph from inside the RMS Titanic after being cleared by a U.S. judge in May to retrieve a piece of history from the world's most famous shipwreck.Originally scheduled to embark on the mission to recover the system this summer, the private company with exclusive rights to salvage artifacts from the ship announced it has shifted its expedition to spring/early summer of 2021 to abide by ongoing travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic."The safety of our crew…

VIDEO: U.S. Coast Guard Medevacs Offshore Vessel Worker

The U.S. Coast Guard on Thursday medevaced a crewmember from the offshore support vessel RMS Citation approximately seven miles offshore Corpus Christi, Texas.Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi watchstanders received a request for medevac for a 45-year-old male who was experiencing arm pain and shortness of breath. Watchstanders consulted with the duty flight surgeon who recommended the medevac."We are grateful we were able to get the mariner to the medical attention he needed," said Lt. Jake Conrad, Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi MH-65 aircraft commander.

Interview: John Waterhouse, EBDG - “Be Bold in Thinking but Cautious in Application”

John Waterhouse is a ubiquitous character in the U.S. maritime industry, a deep-thinker, a signature bow tie and more than three decades of naval architecture and marine engineering experience and success as co-owner of the Seattle-based Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG).While growing up, John Waterhouse spent some time in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and it was as a young boy standing on the shores of English Bay, watching ships come in from around the world to load and unload their cargos, when he realized that a maritime career could be his future.

This Day in Maritime History: RMS Titanic Strikes Iceberg

Late on the night of April 14, 1912, the “unsinkable” passenger ship RMS Titanic, on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, struck an iceberg. It sank about three hours later, at about 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912. Of the 2,224 persons on board, 1,514 lost their lives.In the century that followed, ships are better-constructed. They carry more lifeboat capacity than there are persons on board. They have radios for instant communication with shore and with other ships. They have radar…

Corvus, Kawasaki Pact for Novel ESS for Offshore Vessels

Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) and Corvus Energy have reached a licensing agreement for a novel lithium-ion capacitor (LiC) technology developed by Corvus for KHI.The LiC-based energy storage systems (ESS) to be sold by Corvus to offshore vessels and oil rigs globally.“Corvus Energy has been an outstanding development partner for the LiC technology,” says Takeshi Ohata, Managing Executive Officer of Kawasaki Heavy Industries at their headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.“Their battery engineering experience and marine market leadership gives Corvus Energy expertise unlike any other. Their knowhow around thermal management inside battery modules is critical to ensuring safe and reliable operation…

First Manned Dive to the Titanic in 14 Years

A groundbreaking expedition in early August led a team of experts and scientists 3,810 meters below the ocean's surface to the Titanic's final resting place at the murky depths of the North Atlantic Ocean.The series of five dives over eight days aboard a high-tech Triton 36,000/2 manned submersible Limiting Factor were the first to carry humans to the historic wreck site in 14 years.Patrick Lahey, Triton Submarines president and Co-Founder, and pilot for three of the five dives…

BMT Subsea Technology for Equinor

Global engineering company BMT announced a partnership with Sonardyne to deliver to Subsea 7 its proven ‘Riser Monitoring System’ (RMS).The subsea integrity monitoring solution has been adopted by the world’s largest spar platform, Aasta Hansteen.The Aasta Hansteen Spar platform is operated and owned by Equinor ASA, the Norwegian multinational energy company.Located 300 kilometres west of Sandnessjøen on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) in water depths of up to 1,300m, the deepest field development on the NCS, the Aasta Hansteen Spar is installed in a harsh environment utilising highly robust deepwater Steel Catenary Risers (SCR).Neil Charles…

The Future: Autonomous Robotic Hull Grooming

Ship hull biofouling has significant impacts on fleet readiness, ship performance, cost, and the environment. Biofouling results in increased hydrodynamic drag which results in greater fuel use and greater emissions per distance traveled than a hydraulically-smooth hull. A study by Schultz, et al. found the typical fouling rating (FR) of a US Navy DDG-51 class vessel, FR-30, increases fuel consumption by 10.3% over a hydraulically-smooth DDG-51. Results showed that reducing this…

Emerson Upgrades Reservoir Engineering Suite

Technology and engineering company Emerson has announced the release of Roxar Tempest 8.3, its integrated reservoir engineering suite that offers tools for advanced reservoir management and flow simulation.The latest release takes automation a step further and focuses on increasing user productivity, for a superior understanding of the reservoir and its potential for return on investment.The new product suite strengthens Emerson’s end-to-end Exploration & Production (E&P) software portfolio, comprising Paradigm and Roxar software solutions, aimed at helping operators efficiently exploit both new and established reservoirs.Tempest 8.3 provides increased compatibility with industry-standard reservoir simulators…